BitterSweet

More than a month ago, mom noticed a small white duck hanging out in our pachysandra and it didn't take her long to figure out that she was sitting on a nest.   She was a great mother - only leaving for a short time to eat and take a swim.  She was of Landlord Bob's ducks and we think she may have been a Call duck.  This isn't her but this is what she looked like and we have no idea who the dad is. 

You don't know how many times mom told herself to snap a photo of her for Nature Friday.  It never happened.
One morning as we headed out for our walk, we noticed that she was missing and hoped that when we returned, she would be back and sitting on her nest.    Unfortunately, she wasn't and mom knew that she had most probably lost her life protecting her nest.
We didn't want to invite unwanted predators in our yard by leaving the eggs unattended so mom wrote to Mackie's dad and asked him what she should do.       He told her to box the eggs up and he would stop by and collect them and incubate them in his high tech incubator.   His incubator is temperature and humidity controlled and it even rolls the eggs just like a mother duck does.   All Mackie's dad has to do is to add water.   He also has a light that candles the eggs to see if they are fertile or not.    Mom gave him twelve eggs and he told us that ten of them were fertile.
He can actually see blood vessels as the light shines through the egg shell.

 He also said that the eggs would hatch in a week to ten days.
This is the first baby that has hatched.

What a cutie!

These are the eight duckies that made it and are thriving~ 

Thank you so much, Mackie's dad for saving Mama Call ducks babies.

Love ya lots♥
Molly